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WING CHUN TRAINING CAMP NOTTINGHAM 2003
Foremost among this band was their master Sifu Billy Davidson, a martial artist of some renown, and within the group a wide variety of individuals from young ones barely out of the nest, to older ones tottering on the edge uselessness. A range of expertise was also to be seen, from battle weary veterans, to newbies eagerly anticipating their first taste of unknown delights! The one thing uniting this disparate band of adventurers was a lust for advancing down the path that is Wing Chun. Thus it started as we all converged upon the forest and disappeared under it's great trees, leaving the rest of the world behind and entering a strange and beautiful place of pleasure and pain, laughter and tears, but above all Wing Chun… It would be impossible for me to completely convey all that came to pass during those two fantastic days, but I will try to give an impression of the wonders that were to be found there. The Practical Training Sessions A Variety of conditioning drills were performed, battering our forearms against each other to enhance their toughness and ability to withstand the clashes that occur during combat without sustaining damage or undue suffering. A small amount of suffering today may save a great deal of suffering tomorrow! As I'm sure some great master must have said. We were guided through a variety of basic techniques, in order to reinforce their correct practice, and to build up stamina, which is of great use in many situations one of which of course is combat, the others I will leave to your own imagination! Some of the drills performed were a variety of stepping, strikes, stances, and combinations of these which were mercilessly performed until we were literally falling to the floor like spent leaves, and then we did more. Ohhh we loved it! We practiced the three hand forms, and went through the wooden dummy form in the air, which can be a bit confusing, let me tell you! As well as these things we did a significant amount of that great friend of us all Chi Sau, and got to practise some of Sifu's secret techniques, had to be there to see them, mmm lovely! A final practical part was some weapons training which rounded off a very illuminating and tiring array of exercises that we were instructed in over the weekend. The Theory Sessions A very important part of this particular foray into the depths of Wing Chun were a set of discussions orchestrated by Sifu which addressed the fundamental aspects of the system, and for me at least were invaluable in terms of solidifying and reaffirming the basic building blocks of the system, and linking them together in a more or less systematic way, which seems to have reached parts of my understanding that other attempts have just not reached. However, I don't think we talked about tangents! I didn't catch any, maybe I was a bit tired due to earlier exertions, but either way, I at least, found these talks very illuminating. The Chinese Medicine Session During the weekend Sifu held a session in which he covered the basic principles of acupressure and acupuncture, both the theory and practice of the skills that make these practices invaluable to martial artists of any persuasion. The Facilities In the forest where we met to develop our wing chun, there could be found a wide array of facilities designed to entertain and relax. These ranged from a great covered swimming area with mad water chutes, a wave machine, Jacuzzi's and my favourite, the cold plunge pool, to numerous bars, and restaurants. There were of course a variety of other sporting facilities, but I think the Wing Chun was enough for me on the vigorous exercise front during our stay in the forest. Whilst the above facilities are fine in their own right, just being in the forest doing some light chi sau with friends on a crisp sunny morning puts all the other facilities in the forest to shame in my humble estimation. Yes we were blessed that weekend with some great weather, not all the time but when it was nice, it was very very nice! That as they say was that, training hard, trying not to play too hard! Getting to know our wing chun brothers and sisters better, being able to concentrate on wing chun amongst like minded people for an intense and highly beneficial excursion along the never ending, always delightful path that is Wing Chun. Thank you Sifu Billy Davidson for guiding us. Rufus Fuerst (Wing Chun Student)
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